The Mating Intent-mobi by Bonnie Vanak Page A

inside?”
    Stepping aside, Gabriel gestured for the shifter to enter.  “You told me you were afraid to leave the glen.”
    “I was until last night. That energy that poured into our campsite… it did something. Made me realize I can’t go on hiding any longer.” Neida looked sorrowful for a moment, then threw back her shoulders. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
    Another knock came at the door. Sienna watched as five more shifters entered the kitchen, led by Roger. “Hope you don’t mind, Gabe. We’re invading your space. It’s about damn time we fended for ourselves in the morning.” He glanced at Sienna. “Go have breakfast with your pretty lady.”
    “Don’t mind if I do.” Gabriel rummaged in the cupboards, found two cups and poured coffee for himself, and tea for Sienna.
    They went outside and ate at the glass table on the deck overlooking the pond. A dragonfly lazily flitted over the water. Sunlight glittered on its iridescent wings.
    “At least the insects don’t seem affected by whatever’s infecting the foliage and the water.” Gabriel sipped his coffee and gave her a thoughtful look. “It would be much worse if that happened. I can ward various areas of my territory against dark magick, but trying to protect it against toxic insects? You’d need a legion of Fae for that.”
    “Or the Crimson Wizard. Gideon is far more powerful than an army of Fae. Why don’t you consult with him?”
    “The Crimson Wizard rules over your kind and as a Wylding, I’m not permitted to talk with him. Tristan, the Silver Wizard, rules over us shifters. I don’t want to call on Tristan,” he mused.
    “Because you don’t want to admit you’re failing?”
    Gabriel picked up a piece of bacon and ate it, licking his lips. She tracked the movement of his tongue, her insides clenching as she remembered him stroking his tongue over her naked flesh.
    “Because the moment I call upon Tristan, every shifter inside the kitchen cooking breakfast right now will get even more scared, thinking I can’t control this. And Tristan is a sly, tricky wizard. You never know what he’ll do.”
    “But you can’t control this, Gabriel,” she said gently. “It’s beyond your reach.”
    “As long as I can continue to ward this property, that dark poison isn’t getting to anyone.” He drank more coffee and set down the cup, giving her a pensive look. “And now you’re here and you’ve put a new light on everything. Eat, and then after we wash up, we’ll head to the river where you hiked. I have a shifter buddy who’s a state ranger in that park. He’ll help us assess if the toxic darkness has spread or moved on.”
    She finished her eggs and drained her tea, musing over last night’s odd experience.  “It was only a kiss.”
    Gabriel put a hand over his heart. “Ah, how you wound me. Only a kiss? The earth moved. The trees wept. The birds sang.”
    Shaking her head and smiling, she wadded up her napkin and tossed it at him. “You nut.”
    “It was more than a kiss and you know it.” Gabriel picked up the napkin and dropped it on the table. Leaning forward, he gazed at her intently. “It was sexual energy that you created, and spread to the earth and the Wyldings who were in great need of healing.”
    “I did nothing!”
    “Of course you did something. You can’t deny it, pixie.” His gaze turned earnest and boyish with hopefulness. “It was you who brought them peace.”
    “I couldn’t have. I’m filled with darkness.” She toyed with her teacup, confused and lost. Everything she’d ever believed in had turned upside down, sending her world spinning out of control.
    It had always been so, that dark Elves were bad, light Elves good. Now Gabriel was insisting otherwise; that the dark power inside her had been used for good. How could that be?
    He gathered her hands in his, the rugged callouses stroking over her skin. His hands were warm and strong and steady. Such power in those hands. They could