Chapter Three

She woke the moment he stirred from their sleepy cuddle. Her eyes flew open and that “something” she hadn’t been able to remember last night became the only thought in her frantic mind.

Danice didn’t have a lover, so who the hell had she been screwing last night?

Scrambling off the pile of muscle and testosterone she’d been draped over for the last God-knew-how-many hours, Danice grabbed the sheet to cover herself and turned on the strange man in her bed. He watched her through wary eyes the color of a stormy sea and sat up, bracing himself with his big hands against the cotton-covered mattress. A waterfall of thick, golden hair cascaded over his shoulders and down to the center of his back.

“Who the hell are you? ”

She wasn’t sure which one of them said it, or if they both did, but it didn’t matter. Apparently they both needed the answers. “You first. ”

He pushed himself all the way up and propped his back against the headboard. “Mac. McIntyre Callahan. You? ”

“Danice Carter. ” She knew she sounded snappish, but really, who could blame her? It wasn’t every day she woke up on top of a man she’d never met. “What the hell are you doing in my apartment? ”

He glanced around, then looked back at her with his eyebrows raised. “I don’t think this is your apartment. ”

“What do you mean? Of course it’s my—” She caught sight of the door with its “Security Procedures” posting on the back, and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God. We’re in a hotel. ”

“Looks like. ” He bent one leg toward his chest, draping his forearm over the knee. Danice tried not to wonder if his knee was the only thing tenting the sheet that covered his lap. “What I’d like to know is, why? ”

Her gaze snapped back to his face. “I want to know how. How did you get me here without my knowing what was going on? Did you drug me? ”

He snorted. “Only if you drugged me back, baby, ’cause I don’t remember a bit of it. Which leads me to believe I know the how, and brings me back to wondering about the why. ”

She stared at him, thoroughly confused. “How? ”

McIntyre shrugged. “Magic. ”

* * * * *

“Magic? ”

Mac watched her nose wrinkle as if saying the word left a foul taste in her mouth. For all he knew, maybe it did.

“Yeah. Magic, ” he repeated. He hated having to be the one to shatter the illusions of humans, but in this case, it didn’t look like he had much choice. “It’s real. So are all sorts of things you’ve always thought only existed in fairy tales and bad movies. I hate to break it to you, but Manhattan is full of vampires and werewolves and things that go bump in the night. ”

He waited for her eyes to widen, for shock to make her pale under that lickably dusky skin, but she just watched him through her exotic, almond-shaped brown eyes. “I know, ” she said.

All of a sudden, his eyes were the ones widening. “You know? ”

“About the vampires and werewolves. About the whole Council of Others, ” she said, kicking the foundation out from under his planned approach to handling this situation. “My two best friends just married a couple of them, a vamp and a Lupine. But no one said anything about magic. ”

That surprised a laugh from him. “You don’t think that’s magic? ”

She shook her head. “No. Magic is spells and incantations and wands and pixie dust, right? I just figured the Others were a different branch on the ol’ evolutionary tree. ”

Mac stared at her, absolutely fascinated. Not only did this woman have a body that drove him insane and a pussy he’d be dreaming about for the rest of his life, but she knew all about the other side of reality. It almost left him speechless, but since she stared at him, obviously expecting an answer, he dredged up the power somewhere to refute her supposition. “Well, they are, sort of, but that doesn’t mean magic doesn’t exist. I don’t know what your friends and their…spouses have been telling you, but there are a lot more things in this world than just vamps and shapeshifters. In fact, there are more worlds than just this one. And even in this one, there are certain…people with the power to do magic. ”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Are you one of them? Did you magic us here somehow? ”

He shook his head. “No way. I mean, I’ve got some talents, but this is beyond me. Teleportation is reserved for those of pure blood, not mutts like me. ”

Her gaze raked over him—from the top of his head, over his bare, hairless chest, to the sheet that covered his lower body. “You don’t look like any of the Lupines I’ve met. ”

His mouth quirked in a half-smile. “Not that kind of mutt. I don’t mean I’m a werewolf. Mutt is a way of referring to someone who is part human and part something else. ”

“What else? ”

“Fae. ”

He saw her frown, watched her chew over that thought until she found a bone. “Fae. As in fairy? The little people? ”

“The fair folk, ” he corrected quickly, casting a nervous glance around the room. “But yeah, like them. ”

“You don’t look like any fairy I’ve ever heard of. ”

“Faerie, ” he said, changing her pronunciation slightly. “And how many have you seen? ”

“None that I know of. ”

“Most likely none. The fae don’t spend much time in Ithir. The human world. They think most humans are a bit simple. ”

“Then how did you end up being half-human? ”

He gave her a wry look. “I said most. ”

“So one of your parents was…fae. ”

He nodded.

“Then that makes you…”

“A changeling. ”

“But you’re not powerful enough to have teleported me here from my apartment and yourself from wherever you were? ”

She had a quick mind, which he liked. Almost as much as he liked her sweet scent and the silky texture of her skin. “Right. Only a pure blooded fae could manage that. Or an extremely powerful witch. Run into either of those lately? ”

Danice snorted. “Like I’d know if I had. I didn’t even know either of them existed until you told me. ”

Mac sighed. “Then we’re back to square one. Trying to figure out what the hell is going on. ”

He watched while her spine straightened and her chin tilted a few inches higher. “That might be your square one, ” she said, wrapping the sheet she wore more snugly around her, “but my square one is to get dressed, get back to my apartment and forget this ever happened. ”

Her words delivered a surprising sting, making Mac frown and shake his head. He might never have seen this woman before tonight, but the idea of her leaving made him realize he wanted to see her again. Preferably naked. In good lighting. He definitely did not want her leaving him, let alone forgetting about him. He looked around the room while he tried to think of a way to stop her, and he found it. He felt the grin spread across his face like sunrise.

“Um, that might be a little tough, ” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the headboard with a deep sense of satisfaction.

She scowled. “Why? ”

“Neither of us seems to have any clothes. ”