Marked by the Moon (Nightcreature 9)

“From the first moment we met, we knew there was something special between us,” Rose said.

“Love at first sight?” Alex let out a relieved breath. “That definitely wasn’t us.”

“No.” Joe laughed, the sound as joyous as his songs. “Not love at first sight. At first sight we fought like cats in a sack.”

“But the passion,” Rose murmured, staring into Joe’s eyes. “Whenever we touched…”

“Sex happened,” Alex finished.

“That’s amore.” Joe spread his arms wide, and Rose walked into them.

“Faet!” Julian said.

“Got that right,” Alex agreed.

After a brief hug, Rose faced them. “What brought this up?”

Julian glanced at Cade, but his brother still didn’t appear inclined to speak. “Cade did an experiment. Trying to figure out why Alex and I are so—” He searched for a word.

“Fucked,” Alex muttered, and he scowled.

Rose did, too, or at least her face creased into an expression that was the closest she ever came to one. “I don’t understand, child. The mate bond is a gift even greater than the one Julian’s already given you.”

“Given.” She snorted. “Yeah.”

Rose’s frown deepened. “A love like this will never go away.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Alex straightened her shoulders. “And it isn’t love.”

“It will be,” Rose said.

They weren’t getting anywhere, and there were still a few things Julian needed to know. “You’re saying that if Alex and I were human we’d be soul mates?” Rose and Joe both nodded like bobble-headed dolls. “But what if we never met?”

“Soul mates always meet. It’s fate.”

Considering that Julian had been a Viking while human—centuries ago, before Alex had even been born—he had a problem with that theory.

“What if he’d never made her a wolf?” Cade asked.

Everyone glanced in his direction as if they’d forgotten he was there.

“Becoming werewolves allowed the mate connection to be born.” Rose beamed at Julian like he’d done it on purpose.

Julian’s stomach began to burn as if he’d suddenly sprung a very bad ulcer. “So if I’d left her human, there’d have been no connection?”

“Why-a do you think I insisted on making Rose like me?” Joe asked.

Julian could have sworn the ulcer began to bleed.

“With me human,” Rose said, “and Joe a werewolf, the connection began to fade almost immediately.”

“How do you know this stuff?” Alex demanded.

Joe shrugged and looked at Rose. Rose shrugged and looked at Julian. “Doesn’t everyone?”

Julian growled, causing the older woman’s eyes to widen. “Sorry,” he said. “But I’ve never heard of this. And Cade’s never seen a reaction like he saw with us—” He flicked his finger between Alex and himself before setting his hand on his aching gut. “And you two.”

“What reaction?”