Again he searched the horizon, reassured to note the sky had lightened somewhat. Though still darker than what he was used to, at least it had remained blue. “In the land of the...what? Fairies?”
Moving ahead of him at what honest-to-hounds looked like almost a skip, she shrugged. “Call it what you like. Elves, Fairies, Sprites, none of that matters to us. We are Sidhe. We exist in our own reality that closely mirrors yours.”
Why he found this so surprising and difficult to digest, he didn’t know. If anyone should understand the supernatural existed, as a shape-shifting member of the Pack, aka a werewolf, he should.
And he reminded himself, he was a prince among the royal house of Teslinko. Moving quickly and relieved to learn he’d regained his balance, he caught up with her.
“Where are we going?”
She cast him a sidelong glance, her expression serious. “I haven’t quite figured that out. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with you.”
“How about you present me to the court?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Right.”
“I don’t think my request is all that unusual. I’m a prince, you’re a princess. Protocol demands—”
“Forget protocol,” she interrupted. “As much as I hate to be rude, shall I remind you that you’re not a welcome guest? No one, and I can’t emphasize that enough, is going to be happy to see you. Even if your father has met my parents.”
He frowned, puzzled. “That doesn’t make sense.” Teslinko was beloved among the countries of the world. Though small, the natural resources—diamonds, timber and miles of perfect white sandy beaches—made them a much sought after destination of tourists and celebrities alike.
“Doesn’t it?” She stopped and faced him, hands on her hips. “No one here even knows that I travel to the human realm. And then, not only have I lost one of my mother’s precious magical earrings, but I show up with a human when I’m supposed to be entertaining—”
“I’m not a human,” he interrupted her this time. “Maybe that counts for something.”
She shook her head, heaving a sigh. “Stop playing games. I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Head cocked, she studied him. “Fine,” she said at last. “I’ll bite,” she said, unaware of the irony. “If you’re not human, then what are you?”
“I’m a Shape-shifter, just like my father.”
When she said nothing, he continued.
“I can change into a wolf.”
Now her eyes widened. “That explains why I saw...”
“What? You saw what?”
“A shimmering ghost of a wolf, surrounding you as though linked to your soul.”
Dumbfounded, now it was his turn to stare. “You saw my aura? But only Shape-shifters can see that.”
“Sorry.” Her shrug told him she cared nothing for his preconceived ideas. “Maybe magic trumps shape-shifting. So if you’re a werewolf, is your entire kingdom made up of werewolves?”
“Shape-shifters,” he corrected, before he really thought about it. “Sorry. We prefer that term. And no, not everyone is like me. Teslinko has always been ruled by the Pack. I’m a prince of one of the oldest European Packs.”
“Packs?”
“A grouping of wolves.”
“I know what the term means,” she snapped. “Though I guess I find it odd that you refer to yourself this way.”
He shrugged. “How else would we refer to ourselves?”
To her credit, her steady gaze never wavered from his face.
He met her gaze with a straight face. “And as I said, not everyone in Teslinko is Pack. Like every other Pack, we coexist with many ordinary humans all around our world. They have no idea such a thing as a Shape-shifter truly lives, apart from legends and old fairy tales.”
She watched him in silence, mulling over his revelation. After a moment, to his surprise, she held out her hand, her caramel-colored eyes twinkling. “Truce, okay?”
Despite having absolutely no idea what she meant, he went ahead and shook. The instant they touched, electricity arced between them. Sizzling. He could tell from her wide eyes and the hitch in her breathing that she felt it, too.
Of course he found it incredibly difficult to let go of her soft hand.
“Do you believe me?” he finally asked, more to distract himself than anything else.
“I’m not sure.” Lifting one shoulder in a delicate shrug, she looked away. “I guess you’ll have to show me sometime.”
Which meant, in her refusal to take things on faith, she was like him. “I will,” he promised. “Though unless you like animals, you might not like what you see.”
A shadow flitted across her mobile face. “I love animals.”